


The Search

by lw42



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy is the fandom bicycle and I love it, F/M, SHIP DARCY WITH ALL THE THINGS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-08 20:47:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7772839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lw42/pseuds/lw42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter is searching for a long lost aunt; Darcy is searching for a break in the monotony. What happens when they cross paths?<br/>A bit AU, playing fast and loose with the timelines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Girl at the Rock Show

Peter listened to the message at the end of the tape, 'Awesome Mix Volume 2' for the thousandth time. The tape had started to show signs of generation loss but the words from his mother were unmistakable.

_Peter, my little Star Lord. I am so sorry that I won't be there to watch you grow up and answer the questions that I know you will have. I still hope that your father will find you and take you to him, but sometimes there are events that keep us from the ones we love, no matter how much we might want to be with them. Stay with your grandfather. Listen to him and help him. When you are old enough, he will take you to visit your aunt, my sister Kathy, in New Mexico. She can help you to understand where you come from._

For the thousandth time, he cursed himself for waiting so long to open his mother's gift. He could have had answers so long ago. 26 years! Now he would have to find his way back to Terra and hope that he could find his aunt, assuming she was still alive and still lived in the same place.

His timing, luckily, was good. Rocket had taken little Groot back to Planet X for his graduation from the flower pot and to strengthen him before their team ran into any more trouble. Gamora and Drax had a lead on Thanos and had left the group to follow it on their own. The trick was arriving on Terra without arousing suspicion. The Terrans were still light years behind on technology, and having a strange space ship land in plain sight would not go over well with the locals.

Consulting his charts, Peter navigated to the Terran moon; there was a crater that would hide the ship from sight and then from there he could take a transport pack and jet down to the Earth's surface.

Cushioned back in the pilot seat, he steered the course to the crater. The "Awesome Mix Volume 2" tape had switched back to side 1 and played "Hey Tonight" by Creedence Clearwater Revival as the stars rushed past the window.

_Hey tonight, gonna be tonight, don’t ya know that I’m flyin’, tonight…_

 

-(.:.)-

 

"Darcy, did you log the lab environmental factors this morning?"

"Yes Jane."

"Oh, OK. Did I already ask you that?"

"Three times."

"Oh, sorry."

Darcy sighed. She swore that if Jane asked one more time if she had logged the lab environmental factors, she was going to start secretly spiking the morning coffee with Gingko Biloba. Or maybe vodka just to see what happened. She had passed bored in the rearview about three months ago. In fact, last week, she had started googling boredom, and then the causes and effects of boredom, which apparently a number of scientists were researching. Probably scientists who, like her, were stuck in internships where the highlight of the day was logging the lab environmental factors.

It probably wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't had so much excitement with Thor and the Avengers and Shield; once the battle of New York was over, she had hoped that they would be whisked away to Stark tower, put to work on some kind of top secret work, maybe even paid…. But no, here she was, back in New Mexico.

Jane was as absorbed as always in her work, probably more so as she searched for a way to repair the Einstein Rosen bridge and find a way back to Thor. But it just made Darcy feel more alone, without someone to fight for, without a purpose. Oh, except logging the lab environmental factors. How useful. For a while Dr. Selvig had been around and balanced out the crazy a little bit, but even he had important things to do and had left the lab.

She perched on a stool across from where Jane had her head down, examining some sort of fiber that looked suspiciously like a piece of notebook paper through a microscope.

"Jaaaane," Darcy began, using her most reasonable voice. "I need a vacation."

"Uh huh, ok Darcy," Jane said, not looking up. Which Darcy took to mean that she wasn't actually paying attention.

"Jane!"

"Huh?" This time she got a brief moment of eye contact. She was in.

"Jane, I need a vacation. A break. I'm losing it here." Jane looked up, puzzled.

"Why would you need a vacation? What would you do?" Darcy sighed. God forbid someone might have something to do other than science-ing.

"I would take a break, Jane, get out, see people, breath air." She let her hand hover over the eyepiece of the microscope before Jane could resume her examination. "Something you should do once in a while too!" Jane actually looked terrified.

"Darcy, I'm in the middle of this." She said, in a panicked voice.

"You've been in the middle of this for about 3 months now," Darcy noted. "It might be time for a break."

Jane paused, and Darcy thought she might actually cave. She might actually see that getting out would be a good idea.

"Oh," Jane said, "Did I ask you whether you logged the lab environmental factors?"

Darcy didn't even answer before picking up her bag and heading out the door.

 

-(.:.)-

 

"Hey Darce, pull up a seat," she heard from the bar, as soon as she opened the door to the Dragon Room.

The Dragon Room bar was a local favorite, a crossover between Mexican adobe and the old west. And it was her little group's haunt of choice. Tourists would find the restaurant, but the Dragon Room, not so much. Normally the crowd was pretty heavy, but it wasn't yet happy hour and it was a Tuesday.

Darcy dropped her bag on a table in the corner and pulled up a seat at the bar to talk to Paul, a friend and, due to a brief misjudgment that luckily didn't ruin their friendship, her ex.

"What are you doing out so early? Shouldn't you be doing amazing science experiments or something?" Paul was multi-tasking, mixing a drink for one of the guys at the other end of the bar while chatting with her.

"Needed a break, taking a vacation." She reached for the rum & Coke that Paul had poured for her, her usual. He smirked at her.

"Didn't know you could take vacation from an internship." Darcy sighed and dropped her head against the bar.

"I know. But I need something interesting to happen. If I have to keep watching Jane watch things through microscopes I'm going to wither up into a raisin." She took a swig of her drink. "What happened to the world saving and aliens from space thing? That was fun. Nope, now it's looking at things through microscopes." Paul nodded sympathetically and added a little bit of extra rum to her glass.

"Hey, I have something to cheer you up," he said. He reached behind the bar and grabbed an envelope. "I was supposed to go to this concert on Thursday with my sister, but I have to work and she ended up with a date." At the word concert, Darcy's eyes lit up. She LOVED concerts.

"Ooh, what is it? Tell me, tell me!" Paul laughed at her as she tried to grab the envelope from his hand.

"It's a little band called Aerosmith," he answered. Darcy SQUEALED like a 13 year old girl.

"No way!" she grinned, mood completely uplifted. Maybe this break was a good idea after all!

 

-(.:.)-

 

Peter was pretty sure that transportation by car was a major reason why Terra was so far behind the rest of the Galaxy. When he had arrived, he had wandered into a coffee shop and asked what the best way would be to find someone he was looking for. The girl at the barista stand looked at him strangely and told him he should try the internet, and they had free wifi if he needed it. He told her he didn’t have wifi or the internet, and he was rewarded with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Oh, off the grid, eh? That’s cool.” Peter wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but he nodded.

“Yep, off the grid. How would I find someone if I was off the grid?”

The girl thought a moment and then said, “Well, I would ask someone who worked for the city. But all of the politicians are at that Aerosmith concert going on tonight; it’s a pretty big deal.” Peter looked surprised. He knew Aerosmith; he’d had _Toys in the Attic_ on tape.

“How do I get to the Aerosmith concert?” the girl laughed.

“Probably in a taxi, honey, but you’re going to have a hard time getting in without a ticket.” Peter shrugged and graced her with his signature smirk.

“I’ll figure it out. Where do I get a taxi?”

“I’ll call you one. Just wait right out there by the sign.” Peter did as he was told, leaning against the signpost in front of the café, and waiting until a yellow car pulled up.

“Performing Arts Center?” the cabbie asked. Peter nodded, assuming that meant something, and started to open the passenger side door.

“Hey, in the back, buddy!” the cab driver thumbed at him to get in the back, which he did. As the cab screeched away from the curb, he wondered if he would survive the trip. Why these Terrans insisted on cramming into the roadways and trying to go as fast as possible on these narrow roads made no sense to him.

After a harrowing twenty minutes, the cab arrived at a large dome-like building and Peter dug some Terran units out of his pocket and shoved them at the driver, extracting himself from the vehicle and thanking the galaxy that he was back on solid ground.

Looking around, there was one main entrance to the building, and it looked like Terrans had small electronic guns that would scan for the entry tickets. Luckily he saw someone a little way away with a hand written sign, “Need Tickets? Got Tickets?” Peter approached the man.

“I need a ticket,” he said. The guy with the sign looked around shiftily.

“How many? Four?” he held up a set.

“No just one,” Peter replied, digging out his Terran units again.

“Just one will cost you, these are a set,” the man said, eyeing the stack of bills in Peter’s hand greedily. “500 flat.”

“Fine,” Peter said, shoving five bills at the man and grabbing the ticket.

“Hey, these aren’t counterfeit are they?” The ticket man said suspiciously.

“Nope, authentic Earth money,” Peter said, walking away quickly before the man, who was not looking any less perplexed at Peter's assurances, could change his mind. He was glad that Rocket had traded him the units the month before and explained the conversions.

Peter was scanned into the center, and he looked around, getting his bearings. He saw someone standing by a door with a name tag, and approached him.

“Hi, can I help you?” The man said, his name tag declaring him to be ‘George.’

“Hey George, can you tell me how to find someone who works for the city?” George was taken by surprise, then laughed.

“If you find them, let me know, I have a few things I want to say to them!” He was obviously entertained, and obviously not going to be any help. Peter frowned and walked further into the venue, finally spotting somewhere he could be at home and hopefully get more information. The bar.

 

\--(.:.)--

 

“Tell me again why you can’t wear your Aerosmith t-shirt to the concert?” Darcy’s friend Lisa was ready to go and patiently waiting as Darcy dug through her wardrobe, looking for her “Goonies Never Say Die” tshirt. Lisa never had to worry about finding the right tshirt- she had a natural flowy style of dressing in earthy tones, dark chestnut hair that she pulled back with a clip, and large loopy silver earrings. She had an optimistic viewpoint on the world that drew people to her. Darcy, on the other hand, was constantly sarcastic and self-critical, which is probably why they got along so well. But it did mean that Darcy did a lot more digging through her wardrobe.

“You can’t wear the tshirt of the band you’re going to see to the concert for that band. It’s a rule.” She found the shirt she was looking for, pulled it on over her dark long sleeved shirt, layered on a red flannel shirt and her favorite blue scarf, and a green military patrol hat. “OK, ready.” Lisa rolled her eyes with a grin and followed Darcy as she grabbed her messenger bag and headed out.

The line to get into the performing arts center was stupidly long, but when they finally made it inside, Darcy started to get familiar pre-concert butterflies. She didn’t know if it was being close to expert performers, or the crush of people loving the music, but there was nothing that quite matched the experience. She grinned at Lisa, who looked a little more tentatively back at her friend. Lisa was not as into the whole concert thing as Darcy was, but she did really like Aerosmith and so was Darcy’s natural choice to join her with the second ticket.

“Do you want to get a drink?” Lisa asked, scanning for the bar.

“Hells yeah,” Darcy replied, and they weaved through the souvenir stand crowd to the bar. As they elbowed in and ordered two rum and cokes, the piped in “pre-concert” music played “The Joker” by Steve Miller Band.

Darcy chatted with Lisa and people-watched. A band like Aerosmith drew in all generations and all types of folks. There were bikers and aging groupies, old hippies and young hipsters. There was even a guy on the other end of the bar who hadn’t gotten the memo that red leather vests were not really in, although she had to admit that it was kind of working for him. He had a scruffy look and reddish hair, and while everyone around him looked like they had intended to be there, he looked like he had wandered in from some adventure looking for a drink, and just happened to have a concert going on around him.

“Hey, check out space cowboy over there,” she said to Lisa, referencing the Steve Miller song. Lisa turned to look, but was distracted by a tall guy who walked up to her, smiling.

“Hey,” he said, “how’s it going?” Lisa blushed and gave a small “Hey” back. Tall guy started talking to her about Aerosmith, and she kept the conversation going, giving Darcy a small goofy grin.

“I’m going to go scope out a good spot,” Darcy said, trying to give her friend some space. Lisa nodded and turned her attention back to Tall guy.

 

\--(.:.)--

 

_So I took a big chance at the high school dance, with a missy who was ready to play,_

_Wasn’t me she was foolin’ cause she knew what she was doin’ and I knowed love was here to stay_

_When she told me to_

_WALK THIS WAY!_

 

Peter wove his way through the audience, watching people of all ages moving to the familiar song, arms in the air or just nodding in time to the music. Steven Tyler jumped around up on stage, a thick layer of women in the row in front of the stage, jumping up and screaming.

He was making his way to the area just in front of where a big sound table sat on a raised stage, controls and dials rivaling his Milano.

He intended to get a better viewpoint by standing just in front of the sound stage as the crowd pushed forward toward the front, but he found there was already someone standing there. A beautiful someone, he mused, a girl with long curled brown hair, a floppy hat, and my God, a Goonies shirt. He stared at the skull and crossbones underneath the infamous phrase.

Like any strong millennial woman, Darcy had to stick up for herself- even though she reminded herself that she had been ogling this same guy at the bar earlier.

“Hey, dude, my face is up here,” she yelled over the music. Peter looked startled.

“Goonies!” he shouted. “I love the Goonies!” Darcy’s eyes grew large.

“Did you say you love my boobies? What the hell?” Her mouth dropped in disbelief.

“No, GOONIES!” Peter yelled, smirking at her mistake. Understanding finally dawned on Darcy’s face, and she smiled at him.

“Truffle shuffle!” and she shook her body in time to the music. He laughed, and held out a hand.

“Peter Quill,” He said.

“Darcy Lewis,” she replied, taking his hand. “I have to say I’ve never formally met someone with a handshake at a rock concert.” He smiled, the music making it difficult to communicate.

“What are you doing at a concert alone?” he asked instead, noticing that behind her glasses, her eyes were very blue.

She pointed a short distance away, where a cute looking girl was making out with a tall dark haired guy.

“My friend Lisa got distracted,” she answered, downing the remainder of a drink.

“Let me get you another one,” Peter said, reaching out for her empty glass. Darcy jumped a little bit as their hands made contact briefly.

“Cool,” she said, trying to blame her reaction to him on the charged environment. Of course that didn’t stop her from watching him walk back to the bar. Nice.

Lisa had temporarily suspended her lip lock with Tall Guy and came over to talk to Darcy.

“Who was THAT?” she asked her friend.

“Space Cowboy from the bar, remember?” she said, “Oh right, you had something else going on,” she teased. Lisa turned red.

“Darce, I really like this guy,” she said. “His name is Steve, he does geology work for the state.” Darcy grinned.

“I’m happy for you Lis- although I don’t know how you found out where he works from all that _conversation_ going on.” Lisa pushed her in the arm. They spotted Peter headed back their way and Lisa squeezed her friend’s hand before heading back to her guy.

“Water’s fine, friend!” Darcy grinned and turned back to retrieve her drink.

“Thanks!” she said as he handed it to her. She stared at the stage to gather her thoughts. Steven Tyler was making out with the amplifier or something, the guitar screeching melodically. Peter seemed to be scanning the crowd, looking for someone.

“Who are you looking for?” She asked him. “Old girlfriend?” He smirked down at her.

“Nah, just looking for someone who can give me some information.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Do you know anyone who works for the city?”

“Any particular part of the city? Or are you not that picky with your city worker search?”

“I’m looking for a relative. Someone told me that if I found someone who worked for the city, they could help me.” Darcy blinked at him.

“Why don’t you just use the internet?”

“Why does everyone keep telling me that?”

“Because only crazy people try to find other people without using the internet.”

“Oh so I’m crazy then?”

“You said it, not me.”

At that moment a drunken hipster guy stumbled through, invading the space where Darcy and Peter stood. Peter reached a hand around Darcy’s waist without thinking about it, moving her closer to him and out of the path of the drunk. When she was out of harm’s way, he dropped his hand, but she didn’t move back away. He pretended not to notice.

 “Well I guess I’d better find this internet thing then,” he said, gazing down at her, “if it’s so great for finding people.”

“It’s also great for porn,” she said, and then immediately looked terrified. “I can’t believe I just said that. No filter.”

Peter laughed outright at that one.

“I appreciate your lack of filter,” he said. Then he leaned down low and spoke into her ear. “You’ll have to show me this internet, Darcy Lewis.”

 

\--(.:.)--

 

 

_Dude looks like a lady!_

Peter was being dragged through the floor by the hand. His abductress was simultaneously wiggling to the music and navigating the crowded floor to make it to a door near the entrance.

“Hey George,” Darcy said to the guy Peter had talked to before the concert had started.

“Hey, Darce!” George said, happy to see her. “Hey, you know this guy?”

Darcy looked up at Peter; she was still holding his hand. She dropped it now.

“Sort of. Hey, is that upper viewing area open? We’re trying to get away from the crazy down here.” George looked suspicious.

“You aren’t going to be taking advantage of this guy, are you Darce?”

“Um, no.” She glanced up at her charge, who was smirking. “NOT helping, Quill.” Peter held up both hands.

“Hey, if you want to take advantage of me, who am I—hey, is that a taser?” Now it was Darcy’s turn to grin at him.

“That’s right, buddy, there will be no monkey business in the upper viewing area.” George rolled his eyes.

“OK, fine, I’m convinced. Head on up, but don’t tell anyone, alright?” He opened the door to reveal a staircase to the upper level. Darcy grabbed Peter’s hand again, and dragged him up the staircase as the door closed behind them.

The upper level was generally only used by staff members for getting around when the floor was packed, or for storage. Darcy had worked for the PAC a few years back and still knew her way around. But there was one section with a railing that looked down on the stage and crowd, and a bench. The acoustics dulled the sound a little bit as well so they could actually hear each other.

“This is great,” Peter said. “Although that song is really funny, dude looks like a lady.”

“It always makes me think of Mrs. Doubtfire.”

“Who’s Mrs. Doubtfire?”

“Seriously? What planet are you from?” Peter nearly choked. “I mean, I know some aliens who are pretty out of touch with reality, but I bet you even Thor knows about Mrs. Doubtfire.”

It took her a minute to realize that Peter was staring at her like she had 3 heads. “Oh come on, I know it’s weird but after New York, don’t you think it’s more NORMAL that people know that aliens exist? And it’s not MY fault that I happened to be interning for a crazy scientist who thought it was a good idea to get tangled up in intergalactic—“ she had to stop, because Peter had put his hands on either side of her head, and was kissing her desperately. All she could do was grasp his forearms with her hands and kiss him back. When her brain started working again, she noticed that he was looking at her very intently.

“PLEASE,” he said, “tell me that you weren’t kidding about the knowing aliens thing.”

“Uh… kind of a weird turn on,” she started, but noticed that he was still looking like he urgently needed to know the answer. “Yeah, the scientist I work for is kind of dating one,” she explained. “Care to share why that’s important, dude?” She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to call a guy ‘dude’ after kissing him, but her logic cells were kinda not working.

Peter ran a hand through his hair and wondered how much he should tell her. He decided it couldn’t hurt to have an ally to help him find his aunt.

“I was born on Terra, but I’ve lived most of my life in space,” he finally said.

“Terra?”

“It’s what everyone not from here calls Earth.”

“Oh, like the Aasgardians calling it Midgard.” Peter looked confused.

“I’ve never heard of Aasgard, but yeah, if it’s another planet, it’s likely that they have another name for it.”

“So. Peter Quill, space man.” Peter smirked.

“Actually, I go by Star Lord.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“Huh. Well you know that doesn’t excuse you from seeing Mrs. Doubtfire.” Peter looked at her, boggled.

“So just to be clear. It doesn’t bother you that I live in space.”

“Nope.”

“Alright then. So this internet thing…” He put his hands around her waist, intent on kissing her again, but she held up a hand to his chest and pushed him away.

“Hey there, star lord, no monkey business in the upper viewing area, remember?” He brought a hand to his heart, feigning shock.

“I would never.”

“Uh huh.”

Darcy pulled out her phone, and tapped on it a few times, bringing up a Google screen. “OK, now who are you looking for?”

Peter straightened, gazing at the tiny screen.

“My aunt Kathy,” he told her. “My mother told me that she was living in New Mexico, but that was a long time ago.” Darcy looked up at him.

“Do you know her last name?” Peter thought a moment. He didn’t remember what his mother’s maiden name had been, before marrying Jake Quill.

“Not so much.” Darcy clicked off the screen.

“Well this will be harder than we thought. Can you ask your mom?” Peter shook his head.

“She died when I was 12.” Darcy grabbed his hand.

“Sorry,” she said quietly. Peter just nodded. “Well, I can help you research at the library, if you want- it’s not far from my apartment. How did you find out about your aunt?”

“My mom made me a tape,” he said, fishing an old walkman and headphones out of the inside pocket of his jacket. “I have two tapes, mixes of music she liked to listen to when she was growing up. They’re kind of the soundtrack to my life.” Darcy nodded- she understood.

She gazed up at him, wondering how someone with such a strange and eventful life could seem so innocent, willing herself not to close her eyes as he reached up to the side of her face and wrapped a strand of hair behind her ear. He placed the worn orange headphones over her ears and grinned, pressing the play button on the Walkman.

 

The tinny strains of David Bowie singing ‘Moonage Daydream’ played and she couldn’t help from grinning back. Oh he was too cute.

 

Where are you staying?” She asked. Peter pointed up.

"Space ship," he answered. Darcy grinned. 

“Of COURSE you are staying in your space ship. How silly of me.” He grinned back. “And where did you store this space ship?”

“On the moon.”

“Peter Quill, if you are feeding me a line, I will so tase you.” Peter laughed.

“On the moon, I swear! I have a suit that can get me up there.” Darcy shook her head. She was about to have a bad idea.

“Well at the risk of sounding like Earth Girls are Easy, I propose that you stay on the couch in my apartment tonight- it’s a little bit closer than the moon. And then we can go to the library tomorrow.”

As if prompted by the question, her phone dinged, and she saw a text message from Lisa.

‘Steve taking me home don’t worry he’s alright.’ She smiled and texted back ‘OK be safe call if you need me’ and turned back to Peter. “And Lisa is ditching us.”

 

\--(.:.)--

 

Peter could not stop smiling. He had not expected Darcy Lewis. There was something about her that made him feel very homey and safe, things that he didn’t usually feel when he was on missions or surrounded by the ravagers or his crew. Initially he had kissed her just to stop her rambling, but he found that he’s enjoyed it way more than he thought he would. 

He sat in the passenger seat of her Volkswagen Golf, watching the way her hair draped across her shoulders and her slim fingers adjusted the radio dial.

“I always like to hear the songs we heard at the concert on the radio on the way home,” she said, putting a round metallic disc into the console and pushing play.

_Pink, it’s my new obsession; Pink, it’s not even a question…_

He knew that she hadn’t intended the song to be seductive, but he couldn’t help looking at her lips as the song played.

_Pink, on the lips of your lover, ‘cause pink is the love you discover…_

“Hey, Quill!” Peter realized that Darcy had been trying to get his attention.

“Huh?”

“What was your favorite song?” she repeated. He thought.

“Dream On,” he said. “I used to love that song when I was younger. Now I relate to it more.” Darcy became pensive. “How about you?” He asked her.

“Janie’s got a gun,” she said. “I know it’s horrible but I love a good revenge story.” She was entering traffic now, backed up from the heavy concert attendance. “So when did you leave Terra?” she asked, using his terminology.

“Right after my mom died,” he said. “I was abducted by Ravagers, and instead of killing me they let me join their crew. It was 1988.”

“So you’re in the dark about pop culture after that, huh?”

“Yup. Including Mrs. Doubtfire, apparently.”

“Oh, we’ll fix that.” Darcy smiled diabolically. Traffic started to move, and Peter thought back to what he’d been interested in back then.

Twenty minutes later, Darcy pulled into the driveway of a small apartment building, and parked on one end in an assigned spot. She got out her keys and beckoned to Peter.

“Follow me, Star Lord.” Peter cringed at the misuse of his moniker, but followed her into the building. She headed to a door toward the back but on the ground floor. “Home sweet home. Don’t mind the mess. I didn’t expect company.” She put her purse and keys on a hook, and scurried around tidying things, which gave him time to look around. She lived with a homey clutter; photos of Darcy with her friends were tagged to the refrigerator with magnets, and a collection of mismatched teapots were displayed on top of the cupboards. A small living room sported a loveseat and a television, dwarfed by a large bookshelf that took up an entire wall. A hallway led to what he assumed were the bedroom and bathroom.

He did NOT want to squish himself onto that small loveseat to sleep. The bunks on the _Milano_ were roomier. There were two choices; he could either convince Darcy to let him share her bed (unlikely), or he could convince her to stay up for an all-nighter.

Apparently Darcy had the same idea, because she emerged from the bedroom in the back holding a stack of rectangular cases; the top one had a photo of a very masculine looking old woman and the title ‘Mrs. Doubtfire.’

“We are now on a mission to expand your knowledge of Terran pop culture,” she explained, holding up each title. “Mrs. Doubtfire, of course, classic Robin Williams; Pulp Fiction, some classic lines that you need to know there; Shawshank Redemption, Clueless, and just because I know it will strike close to home, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”

“And these will update me on everything that has happened since the 80s.”

“Oh this won’t even skim the surface, but it’s what I had handy.” She stacked the movies on the coffee table and gestured for him to sit on the love seat. She dug around in a drawer on the bottom of the bookcase and pulled out a fluffy afghan. She put ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ into a player underneath the television, slumped next to Peter on the loveseat, wrapped the afghan around them both, and snuggled in next to him, pushing buttons on a controller to start the film.

As the opening credits rolled to comical opera singing and a cartoon bird, Peter wrapped an arm around Darcy’s waist, and wondered how he’d be able to leave Terra without her.

 

\--(.:.)--

 

_“Man, it’s not my fault, I tried to get it—“_

_“Silence, Ravager! You think you can hide your dealings from us? Selling the orb to the collector!”_

 

Darcy woke abruptly as the loud foreign words filtered through to her from the direction of her kitchen. She wasn’t sure when she had moved from the loveseat back to her bed, but that concern was much lower on the list than who the hell was in her kitchen arguing.

" _Hey, watch where you point that thing!”_ Darcy padded quietly through the hall until she could see what was going on. Peter Quill was backing up toward the living room window, threatened by some kind of creature, with what appeared to be armor and a sponge face. The creature had a spear that was dangerously close to Peter’s neck- but then it spotted Darcy and turned threateningly.

“Who is this?”

“You don’t need to worry about her,” Peter said quickly, glancing desperately at Darcy. “She’s just some girl that I picked up. I wanted to see what it was like to be with a Terran.”

He made a sudden move toward the window and touched something by his ear. A weird helmet with glowing red eyes appeared around his head, and he mashed a button she hadn’t noticed was in his hand. Flames shot out of his boots and he rocketed out the window. The alien creature growled and tore out of the window and after him, taking off with his own jet pack.

Darcy just stood there, in the middle of what used to be her living room, staring at the hole that used to be her window. What the hell just happened??

Just some girl he picked up? Did he mean that?

She picked up the wall phone and dialed a number that she knew by heart.

“Jane? It’s Darcy. I need you.”

 

 


	2. Across the Universe

\--One Year Later--

 

 

Darcy checked the straps of her belt to make sure it was secure. The leather holster attached to it held the modified Taser gun that Tony Stark had made for her; and her Swiss army knife was latched with a clip to the other side. She felt exceptionally bad-ass. She wore black fingerless gloves, a long-sleeved tunic made out of bullet proof/ laser proof material (another Stark creation) and black cargo pants. The only thing that gave her away was her “You remind me of the Babe” Labyrinth t-shirt that she wore over the tunic, and her signature red stocking cap.

 

Of the three women who travelled together, Darcy knew she was the least intimidating; Natasha Romanoff was the best assassin in the world, and Maria Hill could break a man’s neck in 5 seconds flat. Darcy felt a little bit of girl power pride that she had been included in this mission.

 

“Remember,” Natasha said, “If you find the orb, don’t touch it. Tell us and we’ll contain it.” Darcy nodded, remembering what they had told her about how the orb could kill you with a single touch. The Avengers and Shield were equally reluctant to have the orb in near proximity of any of the other infinity stones, however they did want to know where they were, and preferably have control of them.

 

It had been terrifying enough watching Jane be consumed by the Aether, to see the power that it had. Thor had sent Sif and Volstagg to store it on another planet, with some guy called the “Collector.” Darcy wasn’t actually supposed to know this, but it wasn’t HER fault that people talked about things when she was in the room as if she were invisible.

 

The orb was supposed to be in the possession of the Nova Corps, which sounded like an intergalactic version of SHIELD. But a rumor was circulating that the orb had been given instead to a band of space pirates, who had in turn sold it to a group of Skrull as a way to hold it over the heads of the Kree.

 

Darcy speculated on the fact that aliens really did appear to love their drama.

 

And of course Shield felt that it was their responsibility to discover whether there was any truth to the rumor, and had sent the task force to investigate.

 

Maria was in the lead as they wandered through the terrain, gun drawn, motioning to Darcy and Natasha to stay back against the wall of the cave where they were hiding. Skrullos was a rocky, unforgiving place, with lots of caves and boulders. It made it easy to hide but difficult to find what they were looking for.

 

Maria finally motioned to the left, pointing out a Skrull guard about 100 yards away, who seemed to be protecting a small silver ball with etchings on it. The orb!

 

“Is that it?” Darcy whispered excitedly.

 

“Shh,” Natasha answered. “It’s the container for the stone. We have to check and see if the stone is inside.” Darcy nodded, and Maria was looking around the ground for something. Finally, she found a small rock, and palmed it, inching out from the cave but remaining hidden from the guard. When she was within 6 feet of the orb, she threw the rock upward toward a stalactite that was hanging from a cliff above the guard, in the opposite direction from where she was hidden. The stalactite dropped, startling the guard and causing him to shout out and hurry toward where the noise had come from. Quickly, Maria approached the orb and pushed a button that must have been hidden on its face.

 

There was a stone inside, alright, but not an infinity stone. Someone had painted a bright yellow smiley face on a plain old rock, and stuck it in there. Maria quickly pushed the button to close the orb, and quickly moved back to her hiding spot, quietly inching along behind boulders until she reached her colleagues. She motioned for them to follow her, and they made their way back through the cave as the Skrull guard returned to guard the smiley rock for all he was worth.

 

“Someone is playing a joke on the Skrull,” Natasha said quietly, when they were out of hearing range.

“Well,” Maria said, smiling, “if they didn’t check to see what they purchased, they aren’t the brightest crayons in the box, now are they?” The three women laughed, heading back to the exit point where they could call to Heimdall.

 

Five minutes later they were standing in Asgard, in front of a gigantic man with all-knowing eyes and the power to send them anywhere in the galaxy.

 

“Thanks, key man,” Darcy said. “Could you zap us on over to Earth now?” The majestic being did not smile, but turned a large sword and brilliant light enveloped them as they were transported back home. When they appeared in the transport room at Stark Tower, Natasha looked irked.

 

“We couldn’t have spent FIVE minutes in Asgard, Darcy?” The girl had the good manners to turn red, but quickly recovered.

 

“No place like home, right? And that Skull-o’s place was giving me the heebie jeebies.” She put her arms around herself as if she were cold.

 

“Skrullos,” Maria corrected, taking off her weapons. Natasha and Darcy followed suit, heading out of the room and to their respective dormitories to stow their gear.

 

“Meet at the common room in 5 for our briefing,” Natasha called to them. Darcy groaned. She had really been looking forward to a long, hot shower; which would now have to wait.

 

\--(.:.)--

 

Over the past year, Darcy had slowly drifted away from being Jane’s intern and more toward being her friend. As they were drawn more and more into the activities of the Avengers and Shield, Darcy began looking for other mentors who were a little bit closer to the action. Maria and Natasha had zeroed in on her as a protégé, first because of her technical computer skills, then later because she was a sponge for new information and learned quickly.

 

She hadn’t just gotten closer to the power women either; she had bonded with most of the Avengers by now.

 

Back in the common room, the gang started to assemble, and she bounced down on the couch between her two favorite Avengers rejects, Loki Odinson and Bucky Barnes. Neither of them talked very much, which meant that she could chatter on at will.

 

“Hey boys,” she said, draping an arm around each of them. Predictably, they each stiffened, Loki giving her a look of contempt and Bucky looking tight lipped around the room for Steve to save him. Darcy grinned. She couldn’t help it, she loved making them feel awkward. “Guess what I did today?” she continued, linking her arms with those of the guys on either side of her.

 

“I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation, Ms. Lewis,” Loki drawled. Bucky continued to not make eye contact.

 

“I travelled all the way to Skull-o’s,” Darcy started.

 

“Skrullos!” yelled Maria from somewhere on the other side of the room.

 

“Skrull- o’s, just to see a prank.” Darcy pointed a finger at Loki’s nose. “YOU would have been very impressed, Mr. Trickster and Lies.” Loki rolled his eyes and pulled his arm away to sulk in the furthest corner of the couch. Steve Rogers walked in and Bucky immediately jumped up and headed over to where his friend was grabbing a beer from the fridge.

 

“Oh you guys are no fun at all,” Darcy said, pulling her feet up on the couch and sulking.

 

“Darcy, you need a man,” Natasha said, entering the common room, “so that you will stop torturing poor Loki and Bucky.” Bucky nodded at her, and Loki smirked. Darcy just pouted.

 

“Men suck,” she said.

 

“Are you still pining over that Star Lord guy?” Clint Barton followed behind Natasha, and tousled Darcy’s hair affectionately as he headed to a stool in the corner of the room.

 

“I’m not pining,” she complained. “I’m applying that label to all men. Current company excluded, of course. Mostly.” She gave Loki a pointed glare. “And the guy put a hole in my apartment. It took me six months to get the funds to repair that shit.”

 

Natasha smiled evilly. “Should have shot him when you had the chance.”

 

“Who exactly are we shooting?” Everyone’s attention moved to the imposing figure who had entered; Director Fury.

 

“Anyone who gets in our way,” Maria Hill chimed in.

 

“Fair enough,” Fury responded. “Now tell us about what you found on Skrullos.”

 

\--(.:.)--

 

As the warm shower finally washed away the day, Darcy allowed her thoughts to wander, as it did way too often, to Peter Quill. He was a jerk, she thought, for the hundredth time. She was just some Terran he’d wanted to sleep with. Even though some dormant part of her mind thought that just maybe he had been trying to draw the alien creature’s attention away from her. But then why hadn’t he returned? It couldn’t be that hard if he had his own spaceship.

 

She pictured him as he’d been sitting at that bar at the concert, then holding her away from the drunk, then kissing her in the upper viewing area…

 

She yanked the shower knob over to cold, shrieking as the temperature turned.

 

\--(.:.)--

 

“Focus, Quill!” Rocket’s brash voice interrupted Peter’s daydreaming and brought him back to the task at hand. He gave a tug on the wrench and flipped a valve, listening to the rattling of the pipes.

 

“That should do it,” he said, wiping his hands on a rag and standing up. “How far out are we from Knowhere?”

 

“How the hell should I know?” Rocket grumbled.

 

“Ten minutes,” Gamora called from the pilot seat. Peter ran through the plan in his head again. The last time they had visited Taneleer Tivan, things had exploded. Literally. This time, with any luck, the collector would never even know they were there.

 

It had been a month or so since he first found out that Tivan held the Aether. While the potential sales price was a good cover to motivate his team, his real curiosity came from the story surrounding how it had landed in Knowhere. His information came from a slimy little A’askvariian, a race he had tried to avoid since an unfortunate incident a few years back. His informant told him that the collector had recently come into contact with a substance of ancient power, delivered by two Asgardians.

 _Asgard_ , he had thought, _why does that sound familiar?_ And then he realized. Darcy Lewis. She had mentioned knowing aliens from Asgard. From that point on, he knew that he would try to find the Aether, if only to find the connection to his fellow Terran.

 

Knowhere was as crowded and pungent as he remembered it. After securing the Milano in an easily escapable location, he and Rocket picked their way toward the Collector’s warehouse. Gamora and Drax had decided to stay behind with Groot and the ship; sometimes Gamora’s past made her a less than welcome visitor.

 

Approaching the door to the Collector’s domain, Rocket and Peter hid behind a nearby building and waited. They watched as, like clockwork, the Collector left the building at exactly 8 o’clock and headed toward the gambling hall down the street. His ‘constitutional,’ the A’askvariian had explained. Peter and Rocket walked stealthily toward the door and entered.

 

The collection had been reconstituted since their last visit; cages and tanks were back in order and filled with rare species.

 

Peter zeroed in on a silvery column, suspended in the air with what looked like magnets. A red liquid seemed to flow within the column. The Aether.

 

Peter reached out to grab one of the handles, but was stopped by a voice behind him.

 

“And so, we meet again. Why must you always be trying to blow up my warehouse, Peter Quill?”

 

\--(.:.)--

 


	3. Prison and Pastries

\--(.:.)-- 

 

Rocket always had the advantage of size when they were running for their lives. He could dart around in and out of small spaces, and was usually able to avoid whoever was chasing them. Peter, on the other hand, was a larger target. He felt the sting to his calf before stumbling and falling to the ground, quickly immobilized by electronic bindings. 

“Sorry to shoot you in the leg, Mr. Quill, but I really hate to run.” The collector gestured to him and he was manhandled to his feet by two sentries in dark uniforms. He caught a glance of a striped tail darting away through an alley, and knew that Rocket would try to help him if he could, but wouldn’t risk getting caught himself. 

As it turned out, Peter was not intended for the Kyln. Tivan must have had other plans for him, likely a sale to Yondu or someone else who would pay to kill him themselves, because he was taken to a holding cell in some kind of warehouse. He sat on the bunk in the cell and glared out at the guards, who took posts by playing cards at a table in an adjoining room. Peter examined the cell thoroughly but he appeared to be stuck, at least for the moment. He lay down on the bunk and closed his eyes. 

“I can’t say that I understand what all the fuss is about.” Peter jumped awake and sat up straight. The voice was coming from very close. His eyes adjusted to the dark and he saw a tall green shadow in the corner of the cell. “You don’t look worthy of much thought, certainly no different than an average Midgardian.” The outline of the man was becoming clearer; he stepped into the light a bit. Peter’s brain was working to connect the dots.  
“Midgardian- you are from Asgard?” Peter asked. His visitor tilted his head to the side. 

“For one who knows the realm of Asgard, you do not seem versed with recognizing its king,” he said. 

“I don’t know it,” Peter explained. “I just heard about it from- a friend. I meant no disrespect.” The tall man was visible now; pale skin and green eyes, a long green cloak and shoulder armor, gold. His dress certainly denoted royalty. The man grinned broadly, and it was a combination of humorous and terrifying. 

“Loki of Asgard,” he said, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Peter Quill. Or should I say- Star Lord.” 

“You know Darcy.” It wasn’t a question; as much as he tried to further his reputation in the galaxy, there was no way that anyone royal would know both his given name and his moniker. Loki just continued to grin. “Can you take me to her?” At this, Loki’s face changed, and became stormy.

“The lady you speak of has become a force to be reckoned with over the past year. You were mistaken when you discarded her with such ease. But she is not to be acquainted with you any longer, Peter Quill. I wanted to see you for myself in case you had redeeming qualities that we were overlooking. But I see that you are just an average Midgardian, and in fact an ass.” Before Peter could open his mouth to protest, Loki seemed to shimmer in the air and disappear. 

\--(.:.)--

“What of this Star Lord, brother?” Thor pounced on Loki as soon as he saw him re-appear. Loki rolled his eyes, it would have been easier being raised with an eager puppy. 

“He appears to be in ignorance of his parentage,” Loki replied. “Not worth our time, or worth the time of any other Midgardian ants.” Thor gave him a disapproving look at the insulting reference to Darcy, but still had questions. 

“Jane is so worried about her little friend. Can we not at least let her know where he is?”

“I would advise against it. He is imprisoned in a cell on Knowhere, likely intended for sale. Unless his father discovers where he is and goes after him, we could be chasing him for eons across the galaxy.” Thor looked unhappy with this, but nodded at his brother. 

“Thank you, Loki. I shall remember your kindness in this matter.” Loki left the room, leaving Thor gazing out the window, likely deciding what to tell Jane. Loki had his own agendas to ponder. J’Son would surely pay quite a price to have his son returned to him; and the Spartoi would be excellent allies. 

\--(.:.)--

Darcy and Tony had teamed up. The mission? Stocking up on enough snacks to keep an assortment of super heroes fed in between meals. Darcy had discovered ‘pocket burgers’ long ago in college; you could take rolls or biscuits and flatten them out, stuff them with any number of yummy fillings, and then pinch them and bake them. Little homemade hot pockets- the guys loved them. Tony had watched her make 2 dozen of them the first time, then watched as she had a mini temper tantrum when the guys had all systematically entered the kitchen and stolen them off the cooling racks, leaving her with 2. 

Tony had grinned and disappeared into one of his many lab rooms, emerging again with an automatic ‘biscuit squisher’ that saved a ton of time and allowed her to mass produce the little snacks. Now she would set aside one day a week, usually when she knew that the rest of the gang was occupied, and would stock up on the creations. Tony got into the habit of helping her pick out the fillings and helping load the ovens, which was rewarded with first pick out of the oven. 

Most of the Avengers were more patient now and waited for the ‘go-ahead’ to steal the little pockets, although occasionally there were daring thefts, like the time Scott Lang (aka ant-man) had managed to grow and shrink himself in order to steal the pocket and disappear before Darcy could catch him. 

Today, Darcy was 6 dozen pockets in, and was sitting on a kitchen stool, playing on her ipad waiting for the last batch to be done. Tony was being his usual annoying self and trying to insert himself into her attention span. 

“Reindeer Games disappeared earlier today,” he said, tinkering with an old toaster. It was a common opinion that Tony was incapable of sitting still without doing something with his hands. Pepper refused to comment. “Thor was being especially dodgy today. Something’s up.” 

Darcy turned off her ipad, knowing that once Tony started talking she wouldn’t be able to concentrate. 

“Huh,” she said. “Maybe it was just some Asgard shit, you know, ruling the country and all.” Tony shrugged. 

“Maybe,” he said, in a tone that said that he didn’t buy it. “Of course usually if they are going back and forth to Asgard, they call for Heimdall; this time Loki just disappeared into thin air.” Darcy frowned. 

“I don’t know Tony, maybe you should check it out,” Darcy said, jumping as the timer went off on the oven. “Last batch, check.” Tony grabbed two oven mitts, or Iron Mitts rather, since they were made to look like his Ironman gloves, and extracted the last sheet from the oven. 

“Too busy,” he said. “Saving the world and all that. You should check it out, Lew-lew.” Tony had started using the nickname once after hearing her call Mjolinar “mew-mew.” She rolled her eyes. 

“I guess it would give me something interesting to do.” She finished packing all of the pockets into Tupperware containers, gesturing for Tony to pick his. He chose a ham and cheese pocket and grinned, waving at her as he left the room. Darcy sighed, washing her hands and double checking that everything was off. 

What if Loki and Thor really were up to something? Jane should know. She turned off the kitchen lights and headed out to the hallway. Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson were engaged in a super long game of hallway Frisbee. 

“Cease fire!” Darcy called out. “Civilian on the floor!” 

“Understood!” Steve called out to her from down the hall. 

“Pocket burgers in the fridge!” she called, and then was almost run over by a tornado. 

“Thanks, Darce,” Steve said, patting her on the arm as he headed behind her to the fridge. 

“Yeah, thanks Darcy,” Sam parroted, following. Darcy smiled and called out, 

“Leave some for everyone else,” as she headed down the hall. 

She poked her head in at the common room; Natasha was sitting by the window looking out; Clint, Maria, Bucky, Loki and Tony were on chairs and couches, eyes glued to the oversized tv screen which was playing ‘The Rock.’ 

“Have you seen Jane?” She asked the room. Natasha gestured upward. 

“Astronomy lab,” she said. Darcy headed up an elevator bank to the 4th floor, which housed a number of labs for the science addicted building tenants. Just outside of the astronomy lab, she heard voices, and stopped before going in. 

“It’s not right, Thor. She has a right to know.”

“Jane, it’s dangerous. If I thought it would ease her pain at all, I would tell her in a heartbeat. But he is being held for sale on a planet of ill repute.”

“Even more reason. Even if he was an ass, we should still try to help him, shouldn’t we?” 

“It is not for us to get involved. He has connections, Jane, with dangerous people. Loki has promised to keep an eye on him.”

“Well THAT’s reassuring.” Darcy heard them kissing, a sure sign that Thor had not picked up on the sarcasm. She backed a little ways down the hall and then approached the room again, singing an Aerosmith song, hoping that they wouldn’t figure out that she’d been eavesdropping. She had no doubt that they had been talking about Peter Quill; she had confided to Jane a few days ago that she still thought about him, and Jane was forever trying to fix things. This at least solved some of the mystery, she now knew where Loki had disappeared to. 

“Hey boss lady. Hey big guy.” She gave them a little wave. “Pocket burgers in the fridge.” Thor’s eyes lit up, and he looked to Jane. She nodded, and he darted out of the room, toward the elevators. 

“Nothing more motivational than food,” Jane said. “How are you holding up, Darcy?” Darcy smiled. 

“No complaints. Tony is sending me on a secret mission, so that will keep me occupied.” She looked sideways at her friend. 

“Well that’s good,” Jane said. “Well I have some work I need to get done, but I’ll see you later, Darcy.” So she was getting the blow off instead of the 411, eh? Now she would definitely need to get to the bottom of what was going on. And she knew exactly who to bother to get the information she needed. She headed out and back down toward the common room. 

\--(.:.)--


	4. Asgardian vs. Midgardian

Loki strode through the hallways of Stark tower, focused on the task at hand. The young Midgardian had been following him for ten minutes, but he had chosen not to tell her that he knew. He was amusing himself by watching her try to stay hidden, following his lanky frame. He focused his energy directly behind her, and willed a holographic copy of himself into being. 

“You’re going to have to move faster than that if you want to keep up,” his double told Darcy. She jumped, instinct causing her to lash out at him, only to see Loki disappear in front of her. The real Loki ahead of her paused, looking back at her over her shoulder. “Come on, then. Hurry up.” 

She scrambled to catch up to him. 

“You’re going to wherever he is, aren’t you?” she asked. Loki didn’t answer, just pointedly walked toward a door that led to a balcony outside of the tower. He looked at the sky. 

“Heimdall, we would like to return.” He held out a hand to Darcy, raising one eyebrow. She hesitated only a moment and then put her hand in his. 

The now familiar pull of light transported them to Asgard; and this time, instead of being transported elsewhere, Loki dragged her away from where the tall, golden helmeted guardian stood, and toward the golden city. 

“Hey keyman,” Darcy called. “Apparently we’re in a hurry. See ya later.” There was a moment where Darcy thought that maybe blindly following the least dependable person in the universe may not be a good idea, but she knew Jane was hiding something from her, and she would bet 5 bucks it had to do with Peter Quill, and 10 bucks that Loki knew what it was. She quickened her pace so that she wouldn’t lose track of where he was going. 

“The pathways to Knowhere are not within Heimdall’s sight,” Loki was explaining, without bothering to look at her or explain what the heck he was talking about. “I alone know where to find them.” He was leading them now away from the bifrost and toward what looked like a garage of some sort. 

Loki entered a door, gesturing for her to stay where she was; moments later the front of the garage did in fact open, and Loki emerged, seated in what looked like a cross between a motorcycle and a glider. She scrambled to seat herself behind him. 

“How does this thing work?” She asked him.

“Hold on,” he answered, and the machine bucked forward, causing her to latch her arms around him and hang on for dear life. They raced along and then lifted into the air; Darcy closed her eyes, afraid to look. She wasn’t usually afraid of heights, but this seemed ridiculously dangerous. Loki was racing toward what looked like a giant waterfall draining from the rivers of the floating city; she ducked as they passed underneath the waterfall, soaking them both, and then emerged in a cave. They continued to race along the cave floor toward a light at the end; Darcy blinked as they flew out of the cave and into the bright light. 

The light dulled almost immediately, and as her eyes became accustomed to the environment, she saw that they were in a grungy, industrial area. Loki must have used an illusion to mask the motorcycle plane; where before it had been brilliant and gold, now it was as grungy as its surroundings. 

“Where are we?” she asked him, scanning the area around them. 

“Knowhere,” Loki answered. “In ancient times my ancestors slayed a great being called a Celestial. Its head became the Knowhere planet. Stay close to me, it is not a place for an ignorant Midgardian.” Despite the insult, Loki didn’t have to tell her twice; Darcy had no desire to wander out on her own in this strange place. So this was where Sif had taken the Aether? What kind of place was this to hold something so dangerous?

Loki led them through alleyways and streets, past gangs of alien ruffians, toward a small doorway attached to a run-down old warehouse building. He opened the door and gestured for her to follow him. 

The warehouse was dark, but a light shone from an office in the back. They made their way in that direction, their footfalls echoing in the empty space. As they approached, Darcy could see that the office was small, seating space and shelves full of neglected items, but that there were cells attached to either side. Most were empty, but in one- Darcy’s stomach jumped- she saw Peter Quill. 

Loki had reached the door of the office; an armored guard sat inside, only acknowledging Loki after finishing some kind of sandwich and letting out a belch. 

“What?” The guard asked. 

“I am Loki, King of Asgard,” Loki said. Darcy opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it when Loki gave her a look. “I am here to purchase a prisoner.”

“Is that so,” the guard answered. 

“I have an agreement to return to the boy to his father, he has paid a hefty price for his return.” If Peter Quill heard them talking, he didn’t let on, appearing to be asleep on his cot in the cell. Darcy gave him sidelong glances as Loki negotiated with the jailer. He was a little bit thinner than last she had seen him, but still wore the same red leather vest and aura of adventure. 

Loki must have convinced the guard, because they were now headed to Peter’s cell. 

“Quill, get up,” the guard barked. Peter made a show of stretching, with a fake yawn. 

“Aw, mom, just five more min—“ he stopped, spotting Darcy, his blue eyes going wide. “Darcy. What are you—“ 

“Stand, boy,” Loki ordered, interrupting. “You have been purchased.” Darcy looked at the tall, imposing Asgardian. Often it was difficult to figure out Loki’s motives. Was he faking it to save Peter, or did he actually have some kind of evil plan in mind? Peter did stand; Loki waved his hand and glowing shackles appeared on his wrists. 

The guard unlocked the door and dragged the prisoner out by the shackles. 

“Now what about my 50,000 units?” Loki grinned at him, the kind of evil villain grin that gave Darcy chills. 

“Let’s say that I will take custody of Mr. Quill here, and in return I will let you live.” The guard started to protest, but Loki waved his arm, and the guard was suddenly suspended in air. “I’ll take your non-response as agreement.” 

Peter was gazing at Darcy. 

“Darcy, you found me,” he said. She glared at him, her anger at the last words he had spoken rising to the surface. 

“Loki found you,” she said. “I just went along for the ride.” Loki waved a hand again and the shackles disappeared. 

“We need to find a ship,” Loki said to them. “We need to get to Sparta.” 

“Oh cmon,” Peter said, talking to Darcy as if Loki wasn’t there. “Admit it, you were looking for me.” 

Darcy fumed. What an ass. She turned to him, eyes blazing. 

“Actually, I’m glad we found you,” she said. “I wanted to show you what it was like to be with a Terran.” Before he could respond, she had drawn her taser gun, pointed it at his chest, and pulled the trigger. 

\--(.:.)--

Loki was not happy that Darcy had incapacitated his prisoner. Despite the amusement she provided, he was regretting allowing her to accompany him. He was using his energy to suspend the man behind them as they picked their way through Knowhere. He needed to find a ship. 

“Dude, what do we need a ship for? Can’t we just call the keyman?” Darcy was saying. 

“This mission is not one for the eyes of Heimdall,” Loki answered. “I have shielded us from his gaze so far. Asking him to retrieve us now would be averse to our goal.” 

“And what is our goal, aren’t we heading back to Stark tower?” Loki stopped, staring down at her. 

“Midgardian, please cease this mindless inquiry. All you need know is that I have a plan. I thought you would have enjoyed seeing this boy suffer after the pain he caused you.” Darcy glanced back at Peter, unconscious, floating along behind them. 

“He pissed me off,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean he needs to suffer. I mean, more than being tased. He deserved that shit.” Loki had started walking again. 

“Regardless of your feelings,” he said the word as if it poisoned him, “there are deals to be made. This boy is wanted by his father, royalty in another realm, and I have need of allies.” He had at last apparently found what he needed, a large pod ship that was sitting close to a bar, likely where its owner was currently located. He climbed into the pod, helping Darcy to get seated, and transporting the floating Peter Quill to a seat in the back, where he sat slumped. 

“Best strap him in,” Loki said, focusing on manipulating the ship’s controls. Darcy climbed into the back and reached for the strap, when large hands closed over her wrists. Her eyes snapped to Peter’s, and he put a finger in front of his lips, gesturing for her to stay quiet. He motioned for Darcy to take her seat again. She debated with herself about whether to alert Loki or do what Peter was telling her to do; she decided to take her seat but readied her taser gun in her hand in case she needed it. 

Peter had stood quietly and approached Loki. 

“So what is this about going to Sparta?”

\--(.:.)--

Loki turned, glaring at Darcy, then at Peter. 

“Your actions are under my control, boy,” he spat. 

“Like hell they are. You’re going to let me off this ship.” Loki sneered at him. 

“You are worth more to me as a bargaining chip, Midgardian.” Loki began to raise his arms, likely to suspend Peter back in air, but Peter was holding up both hands, in surrender. 

“Hey wait, I have something better,” he said. Darcy got the feeling that he was used to talking his way out of a jam. He reached under his shirt with one hand and pulled up a chain, with a metal disk attached. He yanked it off of his neck and threw it over to Loki, who caught it in one hand. “These are my identifiers,” he said. “Take it to whoever is looking for me as a sign that you control my actions. Tell them I am in control of the Guardians of the Galaxy and that we can be powerful allies.” Darcy squinted at the necklace. It looked an awful lot like military dog tags. 

Loki seemed to consider the offer. Before he could think through the options, Peter continued, 

“Why don’t you let me take Darcy home in this stolen ship, you take the Aerocycle back and stay off the radar.” He could see the wheels turning in the Asgardian’s brain. Darcy hoped he was thinking of how pissed off Thor and Jane would be if he told them that he had let some guy who had been an ass to her take off with her in a space ship. 

“Uh, do I get a say in who I travel back with?” Darcy protested. 

“No,” they both said in unison. Darcy slumped back into a seat. 

“Very well,” Loki agreed. “But I should warn you that Ms. Lewis has very powerful friends who will take pleasure in hunting you if you harm her.” Peter nodded, keeping a stony gaze trained on Loki. After a few minutes of male ego staring contest, Loki released the hatch and departed from the ship, the door shutting behind him. 

“Finally,” Peter said, turning to Darcy. “Alone at last. 

\--(.:.)--

“So what are you, really,” Darcy asked him, standing to face him. “I think you left some things out before.”

“Peter Quill, Star Lord,” he breathed, “that part is true. I might also be an outlaw, and also saved the Galaxy. Once or twice.” 

“Loki said something about your father being royalty. What was that about?” Peter shrugged. 

“No idea. I never knew my father. I assume that has something to do with why he wanted to go to Sparta, but walking into a new planet blind is never a good idea. I need more information first.” 

Darcy thought about this for a moment. “What was is that you gave Loki?” she asked. 

“My grandfather’s dog tags,” he answered. “I have another set here,” he gestured to a second chain around his neck. “I figured it would hold him off long enough for us to escape.” Darcy didn’t have any words left. He had just tricked the God of Mischief and Lies. That was going to end up being a terrible idea. “Is it my turn for questions?” he asked her. 

“Shoot,” she agreed. 

“Did you think of me over the past year?” Darcy could feel her face grow red. 

“Of course not. You were a jerk.” She tried to turn away from him but he followed her. 

“Are you sure? Why did you follow Loki to my jail cell?” He was advancing toward her, eyes gleaming. 

“Morbid curiosity,” she answered, backing away. He was way too close. 

Darcy reached for her taser again, but Peter grabbed her wrists in his hands, backing her against the cold metal wall of the ship. He pinned her arms above her head and her lower body with his own. She struggled against him, breathing heavily, willing herself not to look at his lips, not to give away what her traitorous brain was thinking. 

“God damn space pirate,” she accused him, breathily. 

“It’s Star Lord,” he smirked, whispering into her ear. He kissed underneath her ear, then her jawline, then her collarbone. She shivered, trying not to whimper at the tender action. Then he moved his hands down her arms to her shoulders and tangled them in her hair as he kissed her, still pinning her against the wall with his body. She knew she should fight, should reach for her taser and stun him, but all she could do was grasp his arms and kiss him back. 

Peter groaned, grinding against her to bring out a strangled moan. 

“Darcy,” he breathed. He moved his hands to her waist, fingers finding her midriff and stroking her skin. “I looked for you. I never meant to hurt you.” It was that last confession that yanked her out of her haze and back into reality. She pulled away from him. 

“You did hurt me. I thought we had connected,” she said angrily. 

“We did,” he said. “That dude was really bad, I didn’t want him anywhere near you, thinking you had any kind of hold over me.” Darcy shook her head. 

“You didn’t come back though,” she accused. “A whole year and you couldn’t have come back?” Peter looked sheepish at that. 

“I thought about it,” he said, “but I thought maybe it was all in my head, and for sure you’d hate me after what I said.” 

“You should have told me,” Darcy answered. She walked away from him, sitting in the chair next to the pilot’s seat. “Where are we going? Let’s get moving.” Peter ran a hand through his hair, but acquiesced, taking the pilot seat. 

“I still need to find my aunt. I think we should head back to Terra.”

“I would avoid New York,” Darcy warned, “you may have a pissed off Asgardian waiting for you.”

\--(.:.)--


End file.
